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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Composing Blues Melodies.
Composing Blues Melodies.
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tookatooka
663 posts
Oct 19, 2009
12:17 PM
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I can't be the only person out here who doesn't play with a band and doesn't just want to play along to backing tracks. I want to play the blues but I'm finding it increasingly difficult to find blues melodies that I can play solo.
Adams Front Porch Blues is the sort of thing I'm aspiring to but have quite a long way to go to get anywhere near that but that is the sort of thing I'd like to be able to play eventually.
I'm resorting to trying to make up my own blues melodies but I get so far and then a blank mist descends and I just can't move the tune along to the next verse. I get to the turnaround and find myself repeating the first bit, get to the turnaround again and.......the cycle continues.
So can anyone point me to some solo blues melodies that I can play/listen to which may give me some ideas on how it manages to push the tune along to a satisfying conclusion?
Thanks for any suggestions and/or ideas.
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nacoran
262 posts
Oct 19, 2009
1:11 PM
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I think a lot of it is taking that main theme you come up with and figuring out how to make variations on it. You could also move the theme to another position on the harp. In classical music they'll even play the melody backwards for a bit or inverted (going down by a third when before you went up) or both.
Another thing I do is to find words and say the words in my head as I'm playing. The meter of the words gives me a basic beat to use. 'Shave and a haircut, two bits' is a nice bluesy phrase.
The traditional ending for a song in Western (as in not Asian or Indian) is playing the IV-V-I chords, although there are a couple other variations. I can't remember them off the top of my head. It's been 20 years since I took any theory and I wasn't any good at it then.
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mr_so&so
227 posts
Oct 19, 2009
1:36 PM
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Tooka, Adam has tons of complete 12-bar (and some 8-bar) blues in his store. He generally tabs out one chorus and goes over that, then shows you how he'd embellish it over repeated choruses. Have a look at some of his "intermediate" lessons for songs that interest you.
Like you, I don't play to backing tracks much at all (and, I know, I should). But I do play "by ear" and can pick out tunes pretty well. It's not a 12-bar blues, but "St. James Infirmary Blues" is a nice melodic tune to work on. If you search around the Web a bit, you can find lots of different variations of it to give you an idea of what you might try with it.
Personally, I'm working a lot on rhythmic stuff, e.g. "John Lee Williamson's Blues" from Adam's store. But just find something you like, learn the basics, then riff on it, would be my advice. There's a lot you can do just by switching octaves in a song, for example.
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harmonicanick
431 posts
Oct 19, 2009
3:03 PM
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took,
perhaps you should consider a one to one session with someone. It may only need 1 hour with the the right person to get you moving on.
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mickil
570 posts
Oct 19, 2009
3:54 PM
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tooka,
nacoran, with:
I think a lot of it is taking that main theme you come up with and figuring out how to make variations on it.
and mrso&so with:
But just find something you like, learn the basics, then riff on it, would be my advice. There's a lot you can do just by switching octaves in a song, for example.
have put it in a nutshell.
If you listen - I mean really, really listen - to most Western music, you'll hear that it's built on, depends on repetition to give it cohesion. A couple of examples:
That Mozart rondo we were discussing, Alla Turca, the whole thing - except for the coda - is built on no more than three rhythmic ideas, and the third one of those is derived from the second.
Beethoven's 5th, the entire first movement is pretty much constructed out of that da da da daa bit that everyone knows. The funeral march uses the same motive with the accent shifted.
But, what about playing blues? The principles are the same except that there's a lot more latitude and, with the harp at least, there needs to be. Listen to Doc's arrangement of St Louis Blues or, if I might be so bold, my take on Summertime on harpfriends' channel.
Both of us are just weaving around the tune and varying the texture here and there.
Even the excellent, cadenza-like Creeper Creeps Again, which depends on the opposite of what I've just been describing, still keeps coming back to that call and response between the harp and guitar to keep the listener rooted somewhere.
Still, talk is easy. The truth is that the more you aquire technique, the more it is that you can vary the same tune. Just try to weave new tricks into old tunes as you get them. That helps to keep them fresh to you.
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YouTube SlimHarpMick
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tookatooka
664 posts
Oct 20, 2009
3:22 AM
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@ nacoran, Mr_so&so, harmonicanick and mickil @.
Very many thanks for your suggestions, there are some good ideas there which I will certainly try. I suppose a lot of it has to do with my inexperience. I feel I have sufficient technique under my belt now to go onto the next stage of low-level composition but didn't realise how hard that would be.
One thing I have discovered is that I should have my cassette recorder on more when I'm noodling so I can review what I'm playing.
The times I've hit on a good bit and then forgotten how I did it will be eliminated hopefully.
Thanks again for the very useful input. It is much appreciated.
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wallyns10
38 posts
Oct 20, 2009
8:56 AM
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After going back and reading what I just wrote, I doubt any of this will be useful, but I'm gonna post it anyways because I'm crazy like that.
The best bit of advice I can deliver is just play man. If you sit down and play for 3-4 hours or more, you get to this place where you get a tingling in your mouth and when you are jamming you feel like you are on a roller coaster (like a ball of pure joy in your stomach) you don't think about anything or anyone (unless you like focus or project your energy), you just feel the music and let it fall out of you. Stop thinking about music as a black and white, cut and dry, wrong and right thing. Think about it like its a way to convey or communicate emotions and ideas. Don't play the notes, feel the notes. Music is THE universal language and should be regarded as such. You shouldn't be worried about forgetting little riffs and licks; when you can feel the music all you have to do is just let it flow and you will do things that you didn't even think or know you could do (literally).
Ok, this is just like an exercise that may help you get to that state of mind (cus that's what it is, its like being high but on music). When you are playing, think about someone that tears you up inside. Whether they make you want to cry or kill or whatever, it has to be a powerful frenzy type of emotion. Now tell them how you feel but through the harmonica. Not talking, but with pitch and rhythm. Work out a dominating theme from it but really hammer it out...I'm talking a lot of practice to fine tune it into what you really want, and that WILL differ at least in some small way from what you originally intended, that I guarantee. But that is ok, in fact I think it is necessary. Ok I think I'm done with my rant now haha
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kudzurunner
748 posts
Oct 20, 2009
9:13 AM
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Wally:
I just filmed a video yesterday afternoon, which I'll upload to YouTube, and I say almost exactly what you're saying here. So you're not crazy. You're making sense.
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mikolune
10 posts
Oct 20, 2009
9:24 AM
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Hi Tooka,
I've been using some of Dave Barrett's instructoinal harp books, and some deal exactly with this issue. There are rules one can follow to construct a solo, that you may use for your melodies.
Books of his I have in mind are: Blues Harmonica Jam tracks and soloing concepts, and also Exploring 2nd/3rd position.
Although the books emphasize playing with a band, the concepts can be used for constructing melodies.
Basic ideas I got from these books: One can decompose a blues solo in 3 stanzas of 4 bars each, over the 12 ars. They can be 3 repeats of the same 4 bars AAA form, or repeat of the same plus a new stanza: AAB for. You can add slight modifications on the repeat of each stanza, ex: AA'A" ...
Worth looking into this stuff.
Mic
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mickil
572 posts
Oct 20, 2009
10:07 AM
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kudzurunner,
I'm very pleased to hear that you're still uploading after MBH.193. I'm still trying to figure out my best response to it, plus, if the truth be known, I still get a bit nervous recording YT vids; much more than playing on stage.
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YouTube SlimHarpMick
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Tuckster
235 posts
Oct 20, 2009
10:21 AM
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Adding to mikolune great suggestions,Barrett also has "Improvising Blues Harmonica". It covers most of what you're asking. Comes with a CD of the book examples.
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wallyns10
39 posts
Oct 20, 2009
4:17 PM
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Kudzurunner,
Thanks, I thought it sounded like Chevy Chase's "be the ball" speech in caddy shack haha. Great video as well, pure gospel truth and powerful playin'!
Last Edited by on Oct 20, 2009 4:41 PM
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